EVERYDAY HEROES:

A monthly blog from Joseph Badal

This is a heart-warming story that reminds me of the AMERICA I grew up in:

‘We were overwhelmed,” said Lt. Col. Nick Jaskolski. “I don’t really have words to describe how surprised and moved we all were. I had never even heard of the town before.”

Col. Jaskolski, a veteran of the Iraq war, is commander of the 142nd Field Artillery Brigade of the Arkansas Army National Guard. For three weeks earlier this summer, the 142nd had been conducting an emergency deployment readiness exercise in Wyoming, training and sleeping outdoors, subsisting on field rations. Now it was time for the 700 soldiers to return to their base.

A charter bus company had been hired for the 18-hour drive back to Arkansas. The Army had budgeted for a stop to get snacks. The bus company determined that the soldiers would reach North Platte, in western Nebraska, around the time they would likely be hungry. The company placed a call to the visitors’ bureau: Was there anywhere in town that could handle a succession of 21 buses, and get 700 soldiers in and out for a quick snack?

North Platte said yes. North Platte has always said yes.

During World War II, North Platte was a geographically isolated town of 12,000. Soldiers, sailors and aviators on their way to fight the war rode troop trains across the nation, bound for Europe via the East Coast or the Pacific via the West Coast. The Union Pacific Railroad trains that transported the soldiers always made 10-minute stops in North Platte to take on water.

The townspeople made those 10 minutes count. Starting in December 1941, they met every train: up to 23 a day, beginning at 5 a.m. and ending after midnight. Those volunteers greeted between 3,000 and 5,000 soldiers a day. They presented them with sandwiches and gifts, played music for them, danced with them, baked birthday cakes for them. Every day of the year, every day of the war, they were there at the depot. They never missed a train, never missed a soldier. They fed six million soldiers by the end of the war. Not 1 cent of government money was asked for or spent, save for a $5 bill sent by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The soldiers never forgot the kindness. Most of them, and most of the townspeople who greeted them, are dead. And now, in 2018, those 21 busloads from the 142nd Field Artillery were on their way, expecting to stop at some fast-food joint.

“We couldn’t believe what we saw when we pulled up,” Col. Jaskolski said. As each bus arrived over a two-day period, the soldiers stepped out to be greeted by lines of cheering people holding signs of thanks. They weren’t at a fast-food restaurant: They were at North Platte’s events center, which had been opened and decorated especially for them.

“People just started calling our office when they heard the soldiers were on their way,” said Lisa Burke, the director of the visitors’ bureau. “Hundreds of people, who wanted to help.”

The soldiers entered the events center to the aroma of steaks grilling and the sound of recorded music: current songs by Luke Bryan, Justin Timberlake, Florida Georgia Line; World War II songs by Glenn Miller, the Andrews Sisters, Jimmy Dorsey. They were served steak sandwiches, ham sandwiches, turkey sandwiches, deviled eggs, salads and fruit; local church groups baked pies, brownies and cookies.

Mayor Dwight Livingston stood at the door for two days and shook every soldier’s hand. Mr. Livingston served in the Air Force in Vietnam and came home to no words of thanks. Now, he said, as he shook the hands and welcomed the soldiers, “I don’t know whether those moments were more important for them, or for me. I knew I had to be there.”

“It was one soldier’s 21st birthday,” Lisa Burke said. “When I gave him his cake, he told me it was the first birthday cake he’d ever had in his life.” Not wanting to pry, she didn’t ask him how that could possibly be. “I was able to hold my emotions together,” she said. “Until later.”

When it became time to settle up—the Army, after all, had that money budgeted for snacks—the 142nd Field Artillery was told: Nope. You’re not spending a penny here. This is on us.

This is on North Platte.

Fraidoon "Fred" Akhtari

2017-07-17

What do you if you’re a citizen of a country where your own countrymen perpetrate atrocities on your own people? In the case of Afghanistan, where the Taliban and Al Qaeda have visited atrocities upon the Afghan people, one option is to flee. That’s what hundreds of thousands of Afghans have done.

Of course, another option is to stand and fight against the people you revile. That’s a much more difficult decision to make. If you stay, then you become a very large target for the enemy. Fraidoon Akhtari stayed and fought and, in the process, put a Taliban crosshair on himself.

The following story was released by Fox News on July 17, 2017. It speaks of brotherhood, courage, sacrifice, and humanity. It is appalling that it took so long for the United States to do the right thing by Fraidoon Akhtari and his family. Every day that our government did nothing to help Akhtari was a day when his life was in danger. I am thrilled that this story had a happy ending. I encourage you to watch Jennifer Griffin’s news story at the link below and to share this story with your friends. Fraidoon Akhtari is an Everyday Hero who saved American lives.

There are so many stories that inspire us. But Humbert Roque Versace’s is one for the ages. It’s a story that is particularly appropriate on Memorial Day. It’s a story that should amaze you and cause you to wonder where men like Versace come from and what makes them do the things they do.

When I was at the U.S. Army Special Warfare School at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina in 1971 with orders to Vietnam, I heard the story about Nick Rowe, a legend in Special Forces lore. But we weren’t told that “Rocky” Versace was also a captive of the Viet Cong at the same time. We weren’t told about Versace’s experiences as a captive or that he’d been executed by the Viet Cong. Knowing Versace’s story today, you have to wonder why it took nearly four decades for him to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Politics surely played a role in the delay of that award.

As you read President George W. Bush’s comment at the Medal of Honor ceremony, consider what Rocky Versace did in the face of inhuman, brutal treatment. Consider how he conducted himself knowing that his behavior would reap the whirlwind from his captors. Consider how his conduct saved the lives of many others. But most importantly consider what a man like Humbert Roque Versace could have accomplished in life had he survived hell in Vietnam and been able to contribute to our country.

President Bush (July 8, 2002, 3:07 P.M. EDT): “Good afternoon, and welcome to the White House. It's a -- this is a special occasion. I am honored to be a part of the gathering as we pay tribute to a true American patriot, and a hero, Captain Humbert "Rocky" Versace.

Nearly four decades ago, his courage and defiance while being held captive in Vietnam cost him his life. Today it is my great privilege to recognize his extraordinary sacrifices by awarding him the Medal of Honor.

Rocky grew up in this area and attended Gonzaga College High School, right here in Washington, D.C. One of his fellow soldiers recalled that Rocky was the kind of person you only had to know a few weeks before you felt like you'd known him for years. Serving as an intelligence advisor in the Mekong Delta, he quickly befriended many of the local citizens. He had that kind of personality. During his time there he was accepted into the seminary, with an eye toward eventually returning to Vietnam to be able to work with orphans.

Rocky was also a soldier's soldier -- a West Point graduate, a Green Beret, who lived and breathed the code of duty and honor and country. One of Rocky's superiors said that the term "gung-ho" fit him perfectly. Others remember his strong sense of moral purpose and unbending belief in his principles.

As his brother Steve once recalled, "If he thought he was right, he was a pain in the neck." (Laughter.) "If he knew he was right, he was absolutely atrocious." (Laughter.)

When Rocky completed his one-year tour of duty, he volunteered for another tour. And two weeks before his time was up, on October the 29th, 1963, he set out with several companies of South Vietnamese troops, planning to take out a Viet Cong command post. It was a daring mission, and an unusually dangerous one for someone so close to going home.

After some initial successes, a vastly larger Viet Kong force ambushed and overran Rocky's unit. Under siege and suffering from multiple bullet wounds, Rocky kept providing covering fire so that friendly forces could withdraw from the killing zone.

Eventually, he and two other Americans, Lieutenant Nick Rowe and Sergeant Dan Pitzer, were captured, bound and forced to walk barefoot to a prison camp deep within the jungle. For much of the next two years, their home would be bamboo cages, six feet long, two feet wide, and three feet high. They were given little to eat, and little protection against the elements. On nights when their netting was taken away, so many mosquitoes would swarm their shackled feet it looked like they were wearing black socks.

The point was not merely to physically torture the prisoners, but also to persuade them to confess to phony crimes and use their confessions for propaganda. But Rocky's captors clearly had no idea who they were dealing with. Four times he tried to escape, the first time crawling on his stomach because his leg injuries prevented him from walking. He insisted on giving no more information than required by the Geneva Convention; and cited the treaty, chapter and verse, over and over again.

He was fluent in English, French and Vietnamese, and would tell his guards to go to hell in all three. Eventually the Viet Cong stopped using French and Vietnamese in their indoctrination sessions, because they didn't want the sentries or the villagers to listen to Rocky's effective rebuttals to their propaganda. Rocky knew precisely what he was doing. By focusing his captors' anger on him, he made life a measure more tolerable for his fellow prisoners, who looked to him as a role model of principled resistance.

Eventually the Viet Cong separated Rocky from the other prisoners. Yet even in separation, he continued to inspire them. The last time they heard his voice, he was singing "God Bless America" at the top of his lungs.

On September the 26th, 1965, Rocky's struggle ended with his execution. In his too short life, he traveled to a distant land to bring the hope of freedom to the people he never met. In his defiance and later his death, he set an example of extraordinary dedication that changed the lives of his fellow soldiers who saw it firsthand. His story echoes across the years, reminding us of liberty's high price, and of the noble passion that caused one good man to pay that price in full.”

Please say a prayer for all the men and women who have given their lives in the cause of freedom, and thank a veteran or someone currently serving. The benefits you have are due in large part to the sacrifices they’ve all made.

There are so many stories that inspire us. But Humbert Roque Versace’s is one for the ages. It’s a story that is particularly appropriate on Memorial Day. It’s a story that should amaze you and cause you to wonder where men like Versace come from and what makes them do the things

I usually focus on an individual in my monthly Everyday Hero blog. But this month, I decided to highlight the 58,267 Americans whose names are on the Vietnam Memorial. The Wall. I found the following statistics on the Internet and decided to share them with the followers of this blog.

Joseph Vittori was born in 1929 in Beverly, Massachusetts. He worked on his father’s farm until he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1946, shortly after his eighteenth birthday.

When you read about this Everyday Hero, you will surely be shocked at the number of occasions when he could have avoided danger. But Joseph Vittori kept stepping up, to serve his country, to be with his mates, to protect the members of his unit. This was not a man who shied away from danger. This was not a man who took lightly his commitment to his fellow Marines.

I never cease to be amazed at the bravery and dedication that Everyday Heroes exhibit, especially when their teammates’ lives are in danger.

After enlisting in the Marine Corps, Joseph Vittori was sent to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in South Carolina where he graduated in December 1946. He served briefly at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Norfolk, Virginia and Brooklyn Navy Yard in Brooklyn, New York before being attached to the Marine Detachment aboard the USS Portsmouth from April to June 1947. After sea duty, he was then stationed at the Philadelphia Navy Yard until May 1948, when he joined the 2nd Marine Division at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. From January to May 1949, he served with the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean area and again served at Camp Lejeune, until October 3, 1949, when he was discharged.

With his service to the Marine Corps over, Joseph returned to his hometown of Beverly, Massachusetts and worked for a year as a plasterer and bricklayer until enlisting in the Marine Corps Reserve on September 26, 1950 for an indefinite tour of active duty. He was sent back to Camp Lejeune for training until January 1951, when he arrived in Korea to join Company F, Second Battalion, First Marines, First Marine Division (Reinforced). He participated in the South and Central Korean campaign, receiving a promotion to corporal on June 15, 1951. On June 9, 1951, he earned his first Purple Heart when was wounded near Yanggu and, after leaving the field hospital, was assigned a position as a property sergeant. After a week at the new job, he asked to rejoin his buddies in his old infantry platoon.

The two young Marines featured in this month’s Everyday Heroes blog were mentioned in a speech presented by Marine Corps Lt. General John Kelly in 2010. The first link below includes that part of Kelly’s speech that concerns Yale and Haerter. The second link below will take you to

Jacklyn Harold "Jack" Lucas was born in Plymouth, North Carolina on February 14, 1928. After his father, a tobacco farmer, died when he was ten, his mother sent him to nearby Edwards Military Institute. Lucas was only 14 years of

Desmond Thomas Doss was born onFebruary 7, in Lynchburg, Virginia, son of William Thomas Doss, a carpenter, and Bertha E. (Oliver) Doss. Enlisting voluntarily in April 1942, Doss refused to kill an enemy soldier or carry a weapon into combat because of his personal beliefs

The story behind my August 2016 Everyday Heroes blog was decades in the making—86 years after this month’s Everyday Hero was born and nearly 50 years before he was recognized for acts performed in Vietnam in 1967.

I couldn’t think of a better subject for my July 2016 Everyday Heroes blog than the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence. We are about to celebrate the July 4th holiday, which has become, for many Americans, nothing more than a vacation and barbecue day. I watched a “man in

Charles Martland grew up in Milton, Massachusetts. He played high school football and went on to play for Bobby Bowden at Florida State. When Pat Tillman, a former NFL football player who volunteered for the Army Rangers, was killed in Afghanistan in 2004, Martland saw Tillman's sacrifice as motivation to apply for military service.

Martland dropped out of college and graduated in 2006 from Special Forces Qualification Course, one of the U.S. military's toughest training programs. Over the years he became a jumpmaster, combat diver, and sniper.

After a deployment to Iraq in 2008, he deployed to Afghanistan in January 2010 as part of a 12-man unit. He and his team found themselves fighting large numbers of Taliban militants in volatile Kunduz Province. But then Martland came up against the bureaucrats at the Pentagon.

What would you do if a distraught mother came to you for help because a local policeman had repeatedly raped her 12-year-old son, and then you learned that the same policeman assaulted the woman in retaliation for her reporting him? I hope to God that your answer is not: Nothing. I suspect you would take action.